LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. _ No. 21 Iowa State fell a couple of seconds and two points shy of pulling off a furious rally at the AdvoCare Invitational on Sunday.
However, thanks to an early lead and some late luck, No. 11 Gonzaga held on for a 73-71 win and claimed its third Orlando title in as many tries.
Gonzaga shot 64 percent from the field in the first half and bolted out to an early 18-point lead, looking as if it would coast to the tourney title, which the Zags also won in 2008 and 2012. Thanks for Deonte Burton's hot hand and some ramped up defensive pressure, however, Iowa State made things interesting.
Burton, who ended the game with 29 points and 12 rebounds, scored 19 of his points in the second half as Iowa State broke out of the halftime intermission with a 22-9 run that cut the Gonzaga lead to 58-55 with 13:15 remaining. Burton scored 16 points during the spurt as the Bulldogs couldn't find an answer to stopping the versatile 6-foot-4, 250-pound guard.
"Everything was going in for him," Gonzaga's 7-foot-1, 300-pound center Przemek Karnowski said. "Shooting fade-aways, driving to the basket ... it was hard to contain him."
Iowa State had an opportunity to win the game coming out of a timeout with eight seconds remaining. Cyclones coach Steve Prohm drew up a play that had called for senior guard Naz Mitrou-Long to take a potential game-winning 3-pointer, but Gonzaga foiled the plan. Zags coach Mark Few decided to foul out of the timeout, shortening the clock and briefly taking Iowa State out of its thought process. The Cyclones still had five seconds to get off a shot, but Monte Morris' attempt at the buzzer was late and missed the mark.
"They had a foul to give and they made a good decision," Prohm said. "The one thing I kick myself about is not having a second action after the initial play [out of the timeout at eight seconds.]"
Mitrou-Long added, "Coach drew up a great play for us and Gonzaga did a great job of fouling us to get it to 5.6 [seconds,] I believe. They took some time off the clock. Had they not done that, I think it would have worked perfectly."
Tournament MVP Nigel Williams-Goss led Gonzaga with 18 points in the final.
